Keeping Mum: I hate Halloween

Halloween is gaining momentum in New Zealand.Photo / Thinkstock

It never fails to amaze me that children, who already have fairly easy access to sweets, can be so excited at the prospect of trick-or-treating for Halloween.

I do try to keep the volume of sweet stuff being poured into the children down, but they are not exactly deprived in that area. And neither are most Kiwi kids (according to an amateur survey of children walking down the street with all sorts of junk hanging out of their mouth).

I think more and more we are a society awash with sugar. My husband's workplace is constantly flooded with cake, sweets and goodies - a by-product of having lots of female colleagues. I occasionally drop into a publishing firm that has candy in large jars on display and lots of baking floating around (the office does publish a foodie magazine, I guess.) That doesn't explain why one day recently, everyone was encouraged to leave the office for five minutes and choose a free ice-cream from the Mr Whippy van parked right outside, though.

So yes, I get it - adults don't set the greatest of examples. And yet it seems to me any adult around here - even those that control their kids' diet with missionary-like zeal - are happy to sign up to Halloween and it's consequent sugar avalanche. Perhaps it is the dressing up? Surely it's not the begging of complete strangers for candy? Whatever the appeal, I suppose I am a killjoy for not to get it. I continue to have my children feverishly ask me every day "how many days till Halloween mum? How many days till Halloween mum?" And repeat. And repeat.

At least I'm not expected to haul my wary carcass around the outside of the house decorating it in Halloween style (although I'm sure that will eventually be the expectation, as Halloween marketing and merchandise seems to grow year on year). We are still a few decades behind American enthusiasm for the season, which figures as it is actually an American-born celebration.

An article in the New York Times this week detailed the so-called "hedge-fund Halloween" increasingly found in places like the swankier districts of New York; similar to our Franklin Road light display at Christmas time, only about 50 times grander. As Ginia Bellfante writes:

"For several years now, Marc Lasry, the co-founder of Avenue Capital, has decorated his mansion on East 74th Street with bloodied bodies hanging from the balcony, skeleton heads, a giant inflatable ghost, swinging bats and a life-size, clothed skeleton affixed to a tree on the sidewalk. One afternoon last week, tourists and children gathered to take pictures of a dancing skeleton beside the front door. It was singing Super Freak."

Far, far too much work for me, I'm afraid. I am, as I say, glad that that at the moment we only have a cheap plastic pumpkin and skull (filled with candy, naturally), a few outfits, a 'swag bag' and two hyper-excitable children, and that is the extent of our Halloween madness. I am hoping the actual day, which falls during the week, might pass without comment if I don't mention it (although I think the kids are dressing up for it at school, unfortunately). For goodness sake, let's hope it passes without incident and we move seamless onto the Christmas furore, which seems to kick into high gear oh, around November 1?

I agree. Hate halloween. We teach our kids not to take candy from strangers yet once a year we encourage it. Usually our street hs a good process of advising which houses are happy to be visited - a sign on letter box - but apparantly some PC crowd have gone quite mad and said that this would perhaps now not be a good idea as some pervert might put a sign on letterbox to encourage kids to knock on their door and he may kidnap them or do something devious. Goodness me. Its all gone mad. If anything there should be an age limit on trick or treaters. These marauding teens who put on makeup and stick blood on their head , teens who are over 6 foot, marauding up to your door demanding candy is scary enough. Do we really need halloween?

D Irving () |
12:54PM Tuesday, 23 Oct 2012

I really like Halloween and have been "celebrating" it since the early 90's with fancy dress parties every year (which my friends still talk about!), Now that I have children of my own, we take them trick or treating in our neighbourhood. It's a good way of meeting the neighbours and let the kids have a bit of fun. The treats they get given are limited and usually last until the Santa Parade top up!Yes it's an American import and yes, it's commerical but so is Christmas - Santa was invented by Coca Cola! So what! It's fun and and the kids get to dress up and scare people - in their own 3 and 4 year way! Live a little!

Scarmander (New Zealand) |
02:26PM Tuesday, 23 Oct 2012

Call me crazy, but I think Halloween is a ridiculous holiday to be celebrated in New Zealand. We're not even in the right season for it to make sense! I for one find the whole thing repulsive, and as someone blessed to not have children, I shall be locking my gate and pretending to not be home that evening, just like I do every year. Halloween is NOT our holiday. Why should we have to suffer through yet another ridiculous American tradition? What's next, celebrating the Fourth of July? And in another point, why is it that Halloween is growing to eclipse a traditional New Zealand holiday a few days later, Guy Fawkes Day? Every year, it's a little more about Halloween and a little less about Guy Fawkes Day. Is it really that much less savoury to "burn a guy" as we did when I was a child, than it is to hang skeletons all over your house? Call me crazy, but I am proud of New Zealand's British roots; last time I checked, we didn't have any to the United States.